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How did the Oman Mountains form?

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Arabian Desert The Arabian Desert, the largest desert in Asia, covering an area of about 900,000 square miles (2,300,000 square km).

The Oman Mountains, also known as the Al-Hajar range, were formed through the northward rotation and collision of the Arabian plate with the Eurasian plate. This tectonic activity resulted in the scooping of oceanic crust from the Gulf of Oman onto the Arabian plate.1

Geologically, the mountain chain is characterized by a series of superimposed sheets known as nappes. These include slices of ocean floor, or ophiolites, that were thrust onto the continental crust during the Cretaceous Period (145 million to 66 million years ago), which now sit above older sedimentary rock layers.2